General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Wed., June 9, 2010

So many fascinating bills in committee today that the post-game wrap-up will be somewhat truncated. Here’s what happened. Every bill I highlighted yesterday passed unanimously, with the exception of SB 245(Sokola), which requires that student teachers undergo criminal background checks. Three senators voted ‘no’, the three naysayers open to speculation. Maybe Bernard’s buddy can fill us in again (thanks for helping us out last week!).

On to today’s pre-game show, with such a wealth of legislative material to mine that I’m not sure I can do so, given the legal encumbrances placed upon the legislative mining industry.

First, a brief tour through the Senate agenda. For purposes of the online practice of psychotherapy, these bills interest me: SB 226(DeLuca), SB 223(Blevins), SB 264(McDowell), and HB 338(Rep. J. J. Johnson). Shrinks, lay me down on your e-couches and make of this what you will.

All ri-i-i-i-ght! Let’s put some meat in this sandwich. It’s committee time! Since there may be only one more week of scheduled committee meetings after today, there are a lot of bills to cover.

Let’s mine the Senate Committee schedule for legislative gold first.

The inevitable clash between Sussex County farmers and the encroaching ‘furriner’ population (‘furriner’ meaning anyone not from Sussex County) leads to today’s Ag Committee consideration of SB 265(Venables).

A couple of energy conservation bills will be considered in the Energy and Transit Committee. They look valuable to me, but I hope that Tommywonk can put these in perspective: SB 266(McDowell) and SB 267(McDowell).

Legislation to strengthen and clarify sanctions on chronic environmental violators will be considered in the Senate Natural Resources/Environmental Control Committee. To put it mildly, Sen. McBride is  more than a little unorthodox and far from being the easiest person to deal with or to work for. Trust me on that. However, on balance, he’s been a damned good advocate for the environment in his role as chair of this committee.

The House Committee schedule is simply chock full of notable nuggets.

The oft-discussed (at least here) ‘Regulatory Flexibility Act’ will be considered in the Greed Is Good Committee, aka the Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee. My Spidey Sense is tingling, suggesting that this legislation is Doc Ock in bill form. I do like HB 420(Scott), however, which would outlaw yet one more sneaky practice of insurance companies, this one called ‘post-claims underwriting’. Famed Porcelain Pioneer RSmitty no doubt is lifting a tall frosty one right now as the committee will also consider both HB 432(Viola) and HB 447(Schwartzkopf). I boldly predict that  Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione will be in Leg Hall today to support my kind of economic development.

Two bills in the Education Committee, both sponsored by Rep. Oberle, raise some questions for me. HB 441 creates a universal school breakfast program in Delaware for “all students in public and charter schools regardless of family income.” Why? The second bill is a sop to organized labor, plain and simple. HJR 10 “creates a committee to develop a model curriculum unit to instruct students in the history of Organized Labor.” The committee is to be “comprised of, but not limited to, a member of the Delaware State AFLCIO, a member of the United Auto Workers Local 435, a member of the Teamsters Local 326, and a member of the Delaware State Education Association, to be appointed by the presidents of the aforementioned organizations.” No other members or prospective members are either required or listed in the Resolution.

I’m sorry. As much respect as I have for what unions have done for us, this is no better than the propagandizing of textbooks in Texas.  Nothing forestalls the teaching of labor history in schools now. This history should not be written exclusively by the labor unions any more than a ‘creation science’ public curriculum should be created by religious zealots. Neither can be considered an objective disseminator of information.

HB 358(D. Short) would cause a significant, and I think, positive, change to the way that financial projections are calculated in Delaware. For reasons that I’ve never understood, fiscal notes attached to legislation generally only consider costs to the state for the proposed legislation’s enactment. This bill would enable fiscal note consideration to be “given to the economic implications caused by action of the General Assembly in creating jobs and the revenue that might be generated, as well as predictable revenue calculated by contract or direct action.” The absence of certain key power brokers as sponsors suggests that this bill might face a tough road. But I think it’s good public policy. Those who would think differently are encouraged to state your concerns regarding this bill.

We’ve debated the merits of HB 443(George) here over the past week. The House Judiciary Committee will do likewise today.

HB 429(Cathcart), considered in today’s Transportation/Land Use/Infrastructure Committee, would place a three-year moratorium on the issuance of new Special License Plates. If I had my way, it’d be a longer moratorium than that. Like, forever. Believe it or not, DMV manages over 100 special license plates already. One. Hundred. It’s gotten out of control, folks. The only people feeling left out are those who aren’t special enough to merit a special plate. So, I’m all for this…only not until I get my Special Plate: “Former Non-Essential State Employee”. I feel better already. Now, about those burgeoning tax check-off boxes…

These bills and the others being considered today will likely comprise the lion’s share of the agendas for the next week or so. Interesting times ahead…